the >> good evening, day 393 of the biden administration. president biden has, again, rejected an executive privilege claim from donald trump. the move clears the way for january six committee to see even more documents that trump had try to keep hidden. the president has ordered a national archives to turn over white house visitor logs. those logs should give house investigators more details about who was coming to the white house before and after january six. of course, on the day of the riot. the national archives has told the former president that those documents will be delivered in 15 days. on march 3rd, unless there is a court order not to do so. in january, trump lost his battle to keep other white house records out of the generous six committees hands when this supreme court ruled against him. the former president has made it clear where he stands on the select committee.

>> the un-select committee on january 6th, how about that committee? [applause] biden has the real scandals, rest assured, when republicans retake congress, the biden corruption will be investigated and exposed by congress. [applause] >> the trump white house laws will be in addition to growing pile of evidence already in the committee's possession. the washington post points out today, just how critical text messages are to this investigation. the post reports quote, the panel has left a trail of newly-released text messages between other players in trump 's inner circle beyond the 4000 messages provided by trump's former chief of staff, mark meadows. as it compiles communications from hundreds of individuals and entities who have cooperated with its investigation. the committees trove includes text from dozens of people, a committee staffer said. earlier tonight, one committee member talked about why these texts are so important to the overall investigation. >> first of all, i mean, who

had access to the cell phone number for the chief of staff of the president in the united states? and then, to look at, where these people who were texting with the frequency? what did he respond? to it really does provide an inside have held the trump white house was functioning. who had access to the people closest to the president. >> meanwhile, oath keepers ellen stewart rhodes, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy related to the capitol riot. today, he tried to convince a federal judge that he should be let out of jail to wait for trial. prosecutors argued against that, new evidence shows that he was under a plot to continue to fight the transfer of power after the insurrection. his defense attorney also revealed that his client told the genesis committee earlier this month, he still considers the 2020 election illegitimate. we're also following the latest on the ongoing crisis at ukraine's border. nbc news reports that a senior position official says that no russian troops were drawn from the border from ukraine.

disputing moscow's claim that it was pulling back some forces. the official also said that 7000 troops have been added to the border in recent days. we will have much more with former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, a little later on. meanwhile, here at home, covid cases are falling. more states are dropping their mask mandates. the latest, michigan. an nbc news reports the cdc could release new mask guidance is later this week. today, the agency was still sounding notes of caution. >> we want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing, where these metrics are better, have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen. if and when we update our guidance, we will communicate that clearly. >> with that, let's bring in our lead off guest on this wednesday night, philip rucker, pulitzer prize winner senior washingto correspondant --

the new york best times seller, i alone can fix it. and joyce mans, who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor, she host the podcast, sisters in law. good to see all of you. carol, what might these white house logs actually show? put them in the bigger context of the story, the january six investigators are trying to tell. >> you know, chris, it's such an important question. as january six investigators, both in the department of justice and in the halls of congress, are trying to piece together what happened in the days before the bloody insurrection and attack on the capitol, they are finding these text messages that floated between mark meadows and a host of people, including several fox hosts. the visitor logs are also, potentially, very revealing. visitor logs will tell you who came and went into the oval office and into the white house in the days before january six. we know from good reporting,

from our post colleagues, work that phil and i did, from our competitors, a lot about the people who were getting inside the white house and inside the ear of donald trump in the days before january six. a lot of them had devilish and conspiracy sounding ideas and theories. the logs will be far more exhaustive, although there will be some gaps. there is very little legal ground for withholding those logs from the committee at this point, given that this is a congressional investigation trying to get to the bottom of potential crimes and make a criminal referral to the justice department. >> yeah. let me let you weigh in on whether or not there would be a case to fight this, what do you think, joyce? >> so... obviously, there will be a case. trump is all about using the courts to delay legal process from moving forward. the question, i think, is how the courts will be respond.

we've already had one supreme's court ruling affirming joe biden's ability to exert executive privilege. they did reserve a little bit of authority to answer the question when one of former president can try to countermand the sitting president. but they concluded because january 6th was so unique, it was important for biden to have the authority to order the national archives to turn these documents over. so, the courts can process anything brought by the former president very quickly, just referring to that prior precedent and quickly winding this case through the court so that congress can get access to these documents expeditiously. of course, we know that the court system doesn't always move as quickly as one would hope, or expect it would be able to. that is a real question that we will see. how does the judiciary handle this once it is filed to delay. it will have no substance to it.

>> that is the logs. phil, today, your paper detailed how important the text messages are to this investigation. i wonder if you think that maybe some of those kinds of documents that this committee has are just as, maybe even more important than witness testimony... i mean texts are not subject to memory lapses. >> that is exactly right, chris. texts not only show you, these records not only show you the exact messages, but they give you times stamps. you're gonna able to reconstruct, as our colleagues at the washington post did with this masterful piece this morning, you know, minute by minute what sort of feedback the white house chief of staff was getting from some of the presidents allies, including sean hannity, the fox news host. it helps paint a picture, i think, for investigators in congress, how chaotic the scene was. also, how much forewarning white house officials, senior white house officials, had a bow at what would transpire on january six. it was clear that hannity was

very concerned in the 24 to 48 hours ahead of time about what could be happening on the six. meadows was receiving those messages, even as the president was continuing to buckle down on his election lie and stoke some of his supporters on social media and elsewhere, of course, that speech at the ellipse. the text messages show the story of, like, the receipts, if they, were of what was being communicated in that moment, minute by minute. >> even though we know so much, joyce, maybe you experienced this, i certainly did as i was reading that masterful story today. it really paints a detailed picture. i wonder what, again, as you're looking to build a case, how the compilation of these texts inform us about how this committee is building its case. >> you know, i suspect that these aren't the most damaging

text that the committee has acquired. they are probably putting these out because they are demonstrative of some really significant information that they are digging at. i suspect that they will get more this summer. there are so much detailed information that makes you want to take further. the sean hannity texts are really great example of that because he suggests a very specific concern he has, that everyone in the white house counsel office is going to resign. he suggests that that is because of the plan to pressure mike pence. these are texts. they are short. he doesn't say anything to pressure pence interfering with certifying the elections, that is a clear implication. i think it is safe to say that sean hannity probably didn't make that up. it is so specific. so pinpoint. one that there was concerns ruminating and the council office, those are the lawyers who represent the presidency. they don't represent a sitting presidency.

they represent the presidency. that there was clear that there were concerns that he was trying to articulate to mark meadows. one has to wonder how widespread was the knowledge to spread knowledge of january six, who was in charge of the planning. lots of follow-up here that could be done both by the january six committee to surface the truth. perhaps as importantly, maybe more importantly, by federal prosecutors, exploring whether there was a conspiracy at work here that should be charged. >> bombshells that they're withholding for the actual public hearing? and so the committee has all of this evidence and all these documents what is the next step which should be watching for in the coming days and weeks? >> i think you're going to need to be mindful of the pieces that this committee is trying to put together. joyce is a good prosecutor, and she knows exactly the game, it's a very tactical game.

some of the most important material. and also recalled things that you need to get nail down and corroborated, so you don't muddy the water. i think that some of the material here that we have seen in the post weeks about the texts, the cinematic detail of putting together who was pinging who in those hours before. there is still material in between this conversation to learn, and i bet the committee knows a good portion of it but not all of it. i would also highlight one particularly foreboding text in that great great story by my colleagues. and that is the text from a unidentified former -- forgive me, member of the freedom caucus, who says on january one, on about january one, remember that's five days before the insurrection. this member is described by the investigative committee as someone who is very familiar

with donald trump's planning for january 6th. and his text reads, if potus allows this to occur, we were driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic. now what exactly did that freedom caucus member mean by this? if it's a simple as pressuring pence to reject the election results and the electors, that's a pretty interesting text. committee members have either interviewed or learned information around this lawmaker, and what he was saying to his staff, what he was saying to the white house, what he was saying to meadows. but what else could this be? how grim and chilling a piece of information is this, if this lawmaker knew something donald trump was plotting beyond what we all know now. >> what did they know and when did they know it. we could talk about this all night we could talk about this

all night it's very fascinating. phil i want to move on to ukraine, there is a senior official who says not only has russia not moved forces away from the border, they're actually adding troops. as you talk to folks at the white house, is the level of concern growing? >> you know chris, there's been a heightened level of concern for weeks now about where russia is doing. u.s. intelligence agencies of course are on top of this and gathering intelligence to pinpoint where those troop movements are. and gain out sort of what to expect from putin. but the wildcard is putin himself. and he has made sort of public declarations and sort of signaled in certain ways his motives. but we really don't know and he sort of holding his own cards here so he can of course signal that russia will be pulling back its troops but that doesn't necessarily mean the troops are being pulled back.

so what you see here in washington and at the cia and other intelligence agencies is a real focus on what we actually see happening on the ground. versus what is putin saying and what are sort of russian officials and russian state media putting out there in terms of the narrative about a possible invasion into ukraine. so clearly officials here on the u.s. side and of course in western europe the leadership of the various nato allies are continuing to be on alert for any kind of movement into ukraine by the russians. >> and where as i said they're going to do a deep dive with ambassador taylor on that, in just a few minutes, joyce i want to get your take on this reuters report that new york attorney general letitia james responded to donald trump's five-page letter defending his company's financial statements. so she files the letter with a state court, and here's part of what it says. it is truly rare for a party to publicly disagree with statements submitted by his own

attorneys. in a signed pleading let alone one day after the pleading was filed. what is she really saying here about trump's tactics? >> well you know donald trump has already been fired by his accountants this week, it looks like he's trying to double down and get fired by his attorneys as well. because what's happened here, you have to remember the context is about whether or not laetitia james is going to get to depose donald trump and the two of his adult children. information relevant to these evaluations issues on the and so the response that his statements that he can provide lawyers filed in court with their names on the pleating said, donald trump has no to laetitia james and depositions. there is no reason he should be deposed. and he has contradicted his arteries with so much specificity and detail in this written statement. where he talks about valuation and says that he actually undervalued brand value, and

implies that there is a a lot that he could offer in response to legitimate questions that laetitia james hands. and she has driven straight into that opening that he has given her. making the point to the court that trump has really engaged and a self own here, that he has made her case to depose him better than she could've. i think she's going to get those depositions scheduled. >> we will see. joyce vance, caroline ng, phil brock, another fascinating night. thanks to all of you. coming up, more warnings from the white house today on russia. we're going to talk about former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, about vladimir putin's immediate goal, and why he thinks it's important to support ukraine over the long term. later, why a friend, billy crystal, is telling democrats to please, please, please listen to san francisco. the message of voters we delivered by ousting school board members. the 11th hour just getting underway, on wednesday night.

11th hour just getting underway, on wednesday night

the russians, in the midst of all this, this is over the course of weeks and even recent, days have put additional forces on the border. i want to be very clear, our concern has not diminished in iota. >> u.s. officials warn the threat of military -- russian military aggression has not passed. calling out russian for lying about the troop pullback. while the west anxiously waits and watches for the kremlin's next variable viable move, the washington post columnist, david ignatius says putin has a weak endgame. he writes, quote, potent had

seem convinced a month ago, that his ever intensifying war of nerves over ukraine was working towards russia's advantage. white house officials believe this tactic might be backfiring. some russian officials are questioning putin's brinkmanship, and western nations, unsettled by russian bullying, are rallying around a nato alliance, that appeared to pleaded just two years ago. yet, as russia as more troops to the border, the u.s. remains on high alert. >> we're in the window where we believe that an attack could come at anytime. that would be proceeded by a fabricated pretext that the russians use as an excuse to launch an invasion. claims of provocation in donbas -- i think you should all, everybody should keep their eyes open and aware of that potential. fake videos, false accusations about chemical weapons, or accounts of attacks on russian soldiers, that have not actually occurred. >> with us tonight, former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor. he is also the united states institute of peace vice

president for russia and europe. so happy that you could be here tonight. we have a lot to talk about, ambassador. let's start with the senior administrator official telling nbc that russia has added as many as 7000 troops to ukraine's border. do you agree with david ignatius, that putin's moves are and having the effect he wants. that, in fact, the west is becoming more united against russian aggression? >> i do. i think david ignatius is exactly right. i imagine, president putin is surprised, dismayed, unsettled by the strong reaction that he's getting from a range of people on the other side of his border. that is, president zelensky, in the first instance, here's president zelensky, a fairly new politician that is never held office before. he is, what's, 43 years old. president putin, the, 20 years in the office. but he thought that he could

dominate, or intimidate, or rattle president zelensky. president zelensky has stood up. president biden has stood up. he has supported president zelensky, indicating that the sovereignty of ukraine, that president zelensky continued to defend, is not an issue. it's not to be discussed. it's not on the table. , as you said, as david ignatius said, the nato alliance is undoubtedly surprise that president putin had the strength and unity of this response. that nato allies are unified in what they're trying to do. that doesn't mean every nato allies doing the exact same thing, but the unifying in the focus, in the direction that they are pushing. they're pushing back on, russia they're supporting ukraine, and they're defending the alliance. >> so, if indeed, putin is unsettled, is an unsettled putin more volatile? >> it's potentially more

volatile. but, i also think, he must be calculating costs and benefits. this is not an irrational person. but the cost, when he looks at these, are heavy. the price he would pay for going across the border, of pulling that trigger, of sending all those troops, or even some of those troops, across the border, would be very high. not just in terms of the sanctions that we talked about, they would be hammering, they would be devastating, to the russian economy. sadly, to russian people. the individuals who are trying to use their bank accounts, or their credit cards, or pay their bills. they would be hit immediately, if we sanctioned the top three russian banks. that's the first thing, but that's not even the biggest thing. there could be sanctions on him, on president putin. there will be sanctions on the people around him. sanctions on the families, on

their assets but, that they have in london, or miami. they could be directly affected. the export ban, we haven't talked a whole lot about that. the export ban is a very powerful. sanction now it means that small components, little micro chips, that russians need for their weapons, for their economy but would be cut off. they could probably find a few other sources, but not the same way that we can. our alliance, including the japanese, the taiwanese but, and the indians, not to mention the europeans, strongly support the sanctions. so, the work that the biden administration has done to develop this alliance is really paying off. the last price, not the last price, one of the other big prices, that putin will pay, if he invades, is the potential for unrest in his own country.

but uninvited of ukraine, are you tack on ukraine, is likely to be unpopular among russians. russians think of ukrainians is very close to them. they think they are brothers and cousins. all of a sudden, president putin is going to be attacking them. and, russian soldiers, this is again, sad to say, russian soldiers are going to come back to be buried in russian towns and villages. not to mention the tens of thousands of ukrainians, military and civilians, that will be killed. these are high costs. >> can i ask you about -- they gathered to celebrate unity day. richard engel was there. i want to play one ukrainian telling him about the current environment. take a listen. >> what do you think about what the united states is doing right now? the u.s. says, every day it's coming, it's coming but. do you think they're

overplaying, it doesn't help, isn't making people nervous? >> it makes people nervous, but it's helpful. yeah, it's aggressive. we are thankful to our allies in the u.s., and in europe but for this strategy. >> you like? it >> no, i hate it. but, it's something that saves me. >> so, you know the ukrainian people, ambassador, and we see them, they want to live in a democracy. when you see those kinds of gatherings, today, when you hear someone like that woman, what goes through your mind? but >> will goes to my mind, chris, the strength of the ukrainian people. they have been living with this threat, this fight, with this war, in the east for eight years. the russians, as we know, invaded ukraine in 2014, and the russians have come across the border. they've annexed part of ukraine, crimea ukrainian people have

resisted, the ukrainian military has resisted, has fought. the ukrainian military is now battle hardened, as they say, chris. they know how to fight these russians. the russian army is clearly bigger than ukraine, there's no doubt, but the russian army has to come across the border, into somebody else's land. ukrainian army -- you hear that determination, in the voices of the ukrainian people. you heard in that woman's voice. i was in kyiv three weeks ago, i spoke to many ukrainians, i spoke to president zelensky, spoke to the people on the street, they are determined. but you heard that in that clip that you played from richard. they are ready, they are preparing themselves, they are training to resist russian occupiers. president putin has alienated -- has created, on his board, or a hostile nation for generations. >> ambassador william taylor,

pleasure to have you on the program. thank you for your time. >> thank, you chris. >> coming up, the clear message sent by voters in san francisco by ousting members of the school. word victoria defrancesco soto, and bill kristol are here to discuss what it means for democrats heading into the midterms. when the 11th hour continues. 11th hour she's from clover. clover does that so i can do this. i didn't know you had dahlias. they're my favorite. they just came in. i should do a marketing campaign. clover does that. you're like a mind reader. do you like it? here are the receipts from the other store. cool. thanks. nice. alright, you're all set. oh, could i order online too?

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have spoken and sent a loud and clear message that we want the school district to focus on

their fundamental responsibility. that is educating our children, that has to be the priority. >> that's the democratic mayor of san francisco speaking and support of voter's decision to recall three democratic members of the school board. the recall election and one of the bluest cities and the country grew out of anger as many saw as too much focus on racial equality. a particular equality about -- the board had dedicated time to renaming schools named after the likes of abe linking and george washington. while there was still no plan to get the city's kids back into the classroom. back with us tonight, victoria defrancesco soto, the dean of the university of arkansas. and bill a msnbc political analyst. and editor at large at the board. good to see you. so bill this is what you heard on twitter today. don't expect democrats

necessarily to listen to ex republicans, and i'm not complaining or criticizing, we've gotten things wrong and our advice today, though offered in good faith may not be right. but dear democrats, please, please, please listen to san francisco. and to your point bill, i want to show you what was on fox news on the screen tonight. it said when you lose san francisco, you've lost the culture war. republicans, bill, are already eating this up. >> well democrats can't turn it around if they do learn some lessons i think from the voters of san francisco. who are overwhelmingly democratic. and who believe in racial equality and racial justice, but do object to the silliness, some of the and confidence, and try to change a school that was merit-based admissions for high school. into lotteries, and a lot of the students who won there were minority students whose parents wanted them to go there and get the best education possible.

so the democrats need to be the party of equality, and equal justice, and equal opportunity. but they do need to be careful about looking as if they are just captured by their most progressive and most woke elements, and sometimes it's unfair. sometimes these charges are unfair, and you could say it's more complicated than that one. at some point a political party has to deal with the perception that are out there. the democrats are vulnerable, again maybe a little bit unfairly, i know the republicans get away with so much. my democratic friends said to me the other. day but democrats are vulnerable to this charge, and politically they need to learn the lesson of that referendum in san francisco. >> yeah, voters overwhelmingly voted to oust these members. so should it be a wake up call to democrats? if so, what is the message you hear? >> it's one of moderation chris, it's one of rejection of extremism and policy this policy that passed aside the educational experience of

students during the pandemic. that was an extreme circumstance. the other piece of this is the rhetoric of extremism. what we see is republicans do a very good job of catching the democratic party as the party of defund the police, of open borders, and for democrats to come out and to define themselves and say no, we are a party that believes in a comprehensive immigration reform, a strong police force, but one that also respects the justice, diversity, equality. so democrats need to go in a sense on the offensive, defined themselves away from the extremes. whereas the republicans who want to do that, because ultimately it's the extremes that you start to generate anxiety. and that is what propels them. moderates and independents, will maybe say i will give the republicans a shot in 2022. >> so fox's messaging that's tonight bill. but you think we will see

education specifically as it relates to covid protocols take center stage? i mean we already witnessed something along those lines in the virginia governor's race. glenn youngkin banning mask mandates and schools. but maybe it's all old news by november what do you think? >> i think it's getting to be old news by november. but i very much agree that the democrats need to go -- they can't sort of poke and face away, they need some offensive moves as it were. and to clarify their views and the lines of the voters. they have so much material to work with on the republican side, and even the more moderate republicans to refuse to repudiate that extremism. the violence, the anti vax, also those bills being pushed in texas and florida, and so forth. to not take advantage of that, to let themselves be forced to play defense on these issues, is a political mistake. >> victoria and bill are both staying with us, coming up,

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underway in texas, new polling from the university of texas shows republican incumbents with significant leads and their primary races. but state democratic candidates not named federal work are having trouble getting noticed. the texas tribune says the poll is quote a sign that the party still has significant work to do. to introduce its candidates to voters and disrupt the longtime republican hold on the state. still with us, victoria defrancesco soto, and bill kristol. okay victoria, you know a little bit about texas, the struggle to turn it purple let alone blue. we know turnout is usually pretty bad and primaries. and this year there are even more from the tribune.

in the democratic primary races they report, 57% and 52% of voter said they hadn't thought enough about the lieutenant governor or attorney general matchups. so here's my question, is that if he expected or is it a sign to the democratic party you better chin up some interest here not to mention some name recognition? >> it's both chris. i mean we know that typically primaries you don't have the enthusiasm the intention that you do and your generals, especially in midterm elections. that means that texas democrats know if they want to move the needle that they need to get beyond the governor's race, they need to get into those down ballot races. the focus is not enough. and even there chris, it is going to be an uphill battle when you look at the contrast greg abbott. there's a ten-point difference, and i know there's a lot until november and things could change but 2022 is not 2018.

when he burst it on to this team and captured a moment of frustration against donald trump. we also see moving to the left, that is not dealing with the very conservative deep roots of texas. and finally greg abbott is not ted cruz, so in addition to the lack of name recognition for general democratic candidates of texas. he has a whole host of challenges himself. >> okay texas republicans meantime, a lot of them are doubling down on cultural issues most recently you saw lieutenant governor dan patrick vowing to ban critical race theory in universities. is there a risk of republicans like patrick going too far? or will they assume it does not matter with these restrictive new voter laws? >> they seem to assume it will matter that they can appeal to the base, they are now restricting academic freedom basically at public universities in texas, or they

want to at least. they have the abortion law, we have sort of forgotten about that, that's pretty restrictive, much more restrictive i think than the average voter in texas, maybe a lot of republicans and texas will want. we'll see if roe v. wade will get struck down. or the full ban on abortions period. but if the democrats need to make that case, they need to pry away those rodney savidge republicans who for now seem to regard that as all they're playing these games at the end of the day it's a pro business republican party will vote for abbott, even people like paxton and others. patrick as lieutenant governor. i mean i'm sort of amazed at the tolerance a lot of the establishment republicans seem to have so far at least, for a party that is way to the right, not just to the right, but to the demagogue and race baiting side of things. in a way that a lot of these republicans i can't believe

that's what they want. but the democrats have not done a good job of explaining to those swing voters, those independents, that hey we are respectable, we are responsible. >> so there is some new polling from victoria that shows republicans edging out and a generic congressional race 45% to 43%. so that's basically a tie. but voters approve of congressional democrats more, 31% to 24%. and i'm curious what you might read into that, is it good news for democrats and a year where historically they are the underdog? are we seeing a genuine split? or do you think there is just an overall disgust with the entire political system and if so who's better position to capitalize on that? >> i'm going to categorize this as a funk. there is a generalized funk, also targeted towards the democratic party and this is typical and we expect this, their response to

whatever party is in the white house in the midterm you turn the thermostat down to the other way for some of that check and balance. so we see that, but in addition to that chris, we have to layer on the fact that biden's numbers are not good. we have you know the economy not where we want it to be. we have covid where it seems like we are coming out of it, and who knows what things will look like in november, perhaps they will be great and back to normal. maybe there is another variant. you layer all of these things on top of you know the hyper polarization and you can see why the funk that these members are representing. >> we've only got one minute left, i want to ask you about a new report in axios tonight about republicans worry that donald trump's constant fundraising emails are hindering the party's ability to raise money for other candidates. and that the former president so far has been stingy about sharing the wealth. are those concerns legit in your mind? >> well that the party is using trump to raise money themselves, trump is their keynote speaker,

i think at the senatorial committees and the -- >> can't have it both ways. >> they're whining and complaining. you know what if they don't like trump's tone they should repudiate trump. but they won't do that of course. so i don't think. >> bill kristol victoria defrancesco soto, thank you to both of you for your insight. and coming up, a fear of covid used to make airline passengers and nervous now it might be the passengers themselves. when the 11th hour continues. h hour continues

>> there is a battle brewing over what to do about the growing number of unruly even dangerous passengers on airlines these days. with a dramatic spike in on board misbehavior during the pandemic, the faa is referring some cases for possible prosecution. but should there also be a list of those passengers to keep them off future flights?

our report from nbc news correspondent tom costello. >> reporter: tonight after a record number of disruptive and dangerous incidents on board commercial airliners, the faa sending 43 more cases to the fbi for criminal review. bringing that total to 80 cents at the start of 2021. including an all-out fistfight. flight attendants assaulted, even restraining violent travelers. >> all males to the front of the aircraft. >> after nearly 6000 reports of unruly behavior last year, so far this year, nearly 400 reports roughly two thirds related to the on board mask mandate. late today that texas attorney general sue the biden administration to overturn the mask mandate in airports and on planes. but for the past year, the faa has come down hard on bad behavior, rolling out a national public information campaign. >> these events need to stop,

and we are working very hard to do that. >> delta airlines at the nation 's biggest flight attendants union have called for a single no fly list that would ban people from traveling on any u. s. airline if convicted of a on board disruption. >> i have to be really clear, this is not something that we can accept as a new normal. >> a group of republican senators while condemning the bad behavior oppose the new flightless. saying it would seemingly equate those passengers to terrorists. but delta says it wants to ensure individuals who have endangered the safety and security of our people do not want to do so on another carrier. tom costello, nbc news, atlanta. >> and coming up, when a very popular pbs show that aired for decades might look like today. amid local efforts by some to ban books. when the 11th hour continues.

♪ ♪ ♪ the last thing before we go tonight, the banning of books. local and state legislators all across the country are proposing and in many cases implementing, challenges and restrictions to certain books and libraries and schools. and one well publicized case, the public surprise winning novel about the holocaust, maus, has been removed from schools in tennessee for what was

called inappropriate content. in states like texas florida and missouri nobel prize winner tony morrison's the bluest eye is being challenged for similar reasons. this prompted our friends at the daily show to team up with former reading rainbow host to see what his popular pbs show might look like today. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hey y'all, lavar burton here and i am so excited to read with you today our first selection is called rosa. and it's the story of rosa parks, who so as it turns out that book is a band because reading about segregation is a divisive. almost any book with black people these days is considered divisive, here is one that doesn't have any people and it at all. it's about to penguins and their little baby.

both penguins are boys. well i'm told that that book is also banned because of sexual perversion because it's weird because there is no sex in the book at all. they adopted the baby, what did you guys want a mommy and daddy, so the kids can make sure the penguins are knocking boots? all right, i've got one that they can't possibly have a problem. with pop on top. what? disrespectful to parents? you've got to be kidding me all right there are plenty of books to choose from. but you know what, no, read the books they don't want you to, that's where the good stuff. oh -- they're coming. read banned books! >> advice and a warning from lavar burton to take a selfie tonight, or read banned books.

and if there's any silver lining, some of them have made a re-appearance on the bestseller list. that is our broadcast for this wednesday night, with our thanks for being with us. on the behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news goodnight. tonight on all in. white house requests an expedited release of trump visitor logs with text messages revealing new characters -- i'll ask a january six committee member about all of it. >> where are these prosecutors, where is the da? isn't that a federal -- isn't that fraud all sorts of

offenses. >> the trump family panic after their accountant drops them isn't exactly misplaced. and guess who's out again on capitol hill? >> why is it that you keep being part of the transition team, helping advised district attorneys on how to release violent criminals, and you're the head of the innocence project. >> the sad return to the federal days of criminal justice backlash politics. but all in starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. president joe biden is taking steps to answer one of the biggest lingering mysteries of the trump administration. who was donald trump talking to in the days leading up to the january 6th insurrection? today, president biden announced he would be waving executive privilege for the white house visitor logs from trump's presidency, clearing the way for the bipartisan committee investigating january six to get their hands on them. well trump likely -- again it's important because